The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
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Alberto Perlman nearly sold one-third of Zumba for $300,000
“I remember I offered investment in Zumba to four or five different friends of mine at the early days, and they could have bought a third of Zumba for 300,000 dollars. And I'm glad I didn't do it. I'm so glad I didn't do it because that equity down the road was…”
Perlman: Instructors earning $30 in person made $150 per virtual class
“I know instructors who were making 25 dollars a class teaching at the YMCA or 30 dollars a class teaching at the YMCA. Suddenly when they switched to virtual, they're making 150 dollars a class. So some of them are making more money Than before the pandemic.”
Perlman: Zumba's product breakthrough was replacing verbal instruction with visual cueing
“And so he doesn't scream at people in the class, or there's no talking. It's only visual cueing, so with hand signals, we tell people what to do. And the magic is letting the music lead the choreography, lead the class”
Perlman: Zumba Has More Locations Globally Than McDonald's
“We have more locations teaching Zumba than there are McDonald's in the world.”
Perlman: Zumba succeeded by offering exercise people actually want to do
“And I'm like, this guy doesn't know it, but he has discovered like the magic pill. He has discovered the exercise that people want to do instead of the exercise that people have to do.”
Perlman: Zumba Reaches 15 Million Class Participants Across 200,000 Gyms
“So we have fifteen million people taking classes, and we're in 200,000 gyms.”
Perlman: More locations teach Zumba than there are McDonald's globally
“We have more locations teaching Zumba than there are McDonald's in the world.”
Perlman: Zumba uses non-verbal visual cueing so music leads the class
“And so he doesn't scream at people in the class, or there's no talking. It's only visual cueing, so with hand signals, we tell people what to do. And the magic is letting the music lead the choreography, lead the class”
Alberto Perlman: 15 million people take Zumba classes every single week
“We have fifteen million people taking Zumba classes every single week.”
Alberto Perlman: Zumba operates in 200,000 fitness facilities
“We're in 200,000 fitness facilities right now.”
Alberto Perlman: Zumba financed its early growth through a Kellogg's partnership
“Instead of us raising money, we ended up financing through Kellogg's. Our deal with Kellogg's in the early days of Zumba is what allowed us to sustain the business.”
Perlman: Zumba takes 0% of virtual class revenue, paying instructors 100%
“Everything goes to the instructor.”
Perlman: Zumba enlisted Steve Aoki and Timbaland to score workouts
“So we went to our favorite DJs, DJs like Steve Aoki, Or producers like Timbaland, and we said, can you score music to this workout? Instead of the music being in the background, let's score music, just like you would score music to a movie, like a training sce…”
Perlman: 2020 Zumba instructor registrations lagged behind 2008 crisis levels
“So we are seeing people coming in. It's not as big as the 2008. And it's not as big as what we predicted was going to happen at the beginning of the year, but we are seeing every day a large group of people registering to become Zoom instructors.”
Perlman: 1M weekly users took virtual Zumba classes within six weeks
“And to our surprise, within a month and a half, we had about a million people a week taking Zumba classes virtually, which is amazing for a new virtual product.”
Perlman: Zumba avoided all layoffs and employee furloughs during the pandemic
“So we didn't do any layoffs. We didn't do any furloughs.”
Perlman: Word-of-mouth friend invites are Zumba's primary customer acquisition driver
“Obviously the number one thing that drives people to Zumba is bring a friend. Is when somebody tells you, Hey, I'm taking this amazing class. I found this amazing instructor. Do you want to come with me? It's one of the best marketing tools we have.”
Perlman: Pre-pandemic Zumba had 15M weekly participants in 186 countries
“We have pre-pandemic, over fifteen million people who take Zumba classes every week. And we're in 186 countries, and pre-pandemic, we were in 200,000 locations.”
Perlman: Advertising 'Find a Class' is a massive, zero-revenue corporate expense
“We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising Find the Class. Even though we don't make any money from Find the Class, right, because that money all goes to the instructors, we advertise it all the time, and it's one of our biggest line items in our co…”
Perlman: Zumba launched its instructor network using its final 14,000 dollars
“We called it the Zoom Instructor Network, and we launched it in 2006, in January of 2006. So we spent the whole 14,000 dollars. We had zero in the bank.”
Perlman: Zumba licensed early video rights due to lack of capital
“We licensed. We licensed. Because we didn't have money to do it ourselves, right? And we didn't know how to do it, frankly. They knew how to do it.”
Perlman: Zumba Lost $500K in Committed Funding After 9/11
“We had raised about half a million dollars, but we hadn't gotten the wire transfers yet. And then September 11 happened and everybody backed out and said, everyone pulled out.”
Perez: Zumba began after forgetting aerobics tapes and using Latin music
“And the only music that I have with me in this moment, it was a cassette with Latin music, more cumbia, merengue, salsa, different kind of music.”
Perlman: Zumba classes and instructor trainings surged during the 2008 financial crisis
“Over the next few months, we started seeing that our instructor trainings were getting packed, and that there were more and more people who wanted to become instructors, and we also saw that the instructors were reporting to us that their classes were packed, …”
Perlman: Zumba's 'La Bicicleta' routine was shared 50 million times on Facebook
“We launched a choreography for Shakira and Carlos Vives. They have a new song called La Bicicleta, and in aggregate, the choreography was shared fifty million times on Facebook.”
Perlman: 24 Hour Fitness Adopted Zumba in 2007, Sparking Major Gym Rollout
“And the first really big chain to bring it in was 24 Hour Fitness in 2007, and it exploded. And they had to hire multiple instructors per location. Then all the big gym chains followed Equinox and Crunch.”
Perlman: Zumba reaches 15 million participants across 200,000 gyms
“So we have fifteen million people taking classes, and we're in 200,000 gyms.”
Perlman: Zumba Lost $500,000 in Committed Angel Funding Following September 11
“We had raised about half a million dollars, but we hadn't gotten the wire transfers yet. And then September 11 happened and everybody backed out and said, everyone pulled out.”
Beto Perez accidentally created Zumba after forgetting his aerobics music
“And the only music that I have with me in this moment, it was a cassette with Latin music, more cumbia, merengue, salsa, different kind of music.”
Perlman: Zumba spent its final $14,000 to launch instructor network
“So we spent the whole 14,000 dollars. We had zero in the bank.”
Perlman: Zumba's original plan was selling workout VHS tapes on TV
“And so then we said, okay, let's, we need to create some videos of your class. And basically create a collection, a DVD set. It was VHS at the time, actually, a VHS set. And sell it on TV, so we can explain where it comes from, and why, and what the results ar…”
Perlman: Zumba class attendance doubled during the 2008 financial crisis
“Over the next few months, we started seeing that our instructor trainings were getting packed, and that there were more and more people who wanted to become instructors, and we also saw that the instructors were reporting to us That their classes were packed, …”
Perez: Kellogg's paid Zumba a $50,000 contract for cereal box DVDs
“Yeah, good contract. Like a 50 thousand dollar for the contract.”
Perlman: Zumba Choreography for Shakira Song Was Shared 50 Million Times
“We launched a choreography for Shakira and Carlos Vives. They have a new song called La Bicicleta, and in aggregate, the choreography was shared fifty million times on Facebook.”
Alberto Perlman: Zumba spent its last $14,000 on a pivotal email campaign
“We spent the whole 14,000 dollars. We had zero in the bank. We created this beautiful email. We press send, and we're praying, please, please, and suddenly, 450 instructors joined”
Perlman: Zumba bought back infomercial rights from Fitness Quest
“We had bought the rights back to the infomercial from fitness quest in 2004, 2005, cause they had stopped airing.”
Perlman: Zumba infomercial script was written in Spanish phonetics
“Alberto Aguillon and I had to write the whole infomercial script in Spanish phonetics.”